Every Friday night, many Jewish parents place their hands on their children’s heads for one of the most tender moments of the week.

For daughters, the blessing is based on a high degree of logic: we invoke the Matriarchs – Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah – whose many qualities built what was to become Bnei Yisrael, the Children of Israel, rather than simply a family. But for sons, we bypass the Patriarchs of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov and instead recite:

יְשִׂימְךָ אֱלֹהִים כְּאֶפְרַיִם וּכְמְנַשֶּׁה
“May God make you like Ephraim and Menashe.”

Why these two?

The well-known answer is that Ephraim and Menashe are the first brothers in the Torah to live without rivalry. Unlike Kayin and Hevel, or Yaakov and Esav, or Yosef and his brothers, they represent pure sibling love. Their story is one of joy and peace.

Whilst this is true, there is perhaps another aspect we need to consider. To understand the miracle of their peace, we must look at the darkness from which they emerged. We must look at the story of Dinah and the tragic account of her brutal rape, described in Bereshit chapter 34, even if only judged by the reaction of two of her brothers.

The Silent Bridge: From Dinah to Asenath (Osnat)

On the surface, the stories of Ephraim and Menashe’s joy and Dinah’s trauma seem worlds apart, separated by generations and geography. But Jewish tradition suggests they may be inextricably linked through one woman: the boys’ mother, Asenath.

The Torah in........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)